“You. Stupid. Peasant!” Each word punctuated by a kick. The blows stopped for a moment, but only because the attacker stooped to start slamming his fists into the prone man. He drew back and, for the first time, his fist was surrounded in a silvery glow. He was using his shroud.

The man on the ground, Jonathan, had come to the Tournament of Powers with his wife and children all the way from the far side of the Ten Thousand Empires. He had a massive windfall in the mines recently, discovering a vein of valuable Flight ether. Jonathan was credited with the find and given a large sum for his service. More than two years' wages, all at once.

He had wanted to celebrate. It was the first time in years he and his wife had extra income. They had been comfortable, but unforeseen expenses or Johnathan getting injured in the mines would have devastated them. His job was risky, dangerous. The thought was always on his mind. But now they had more than enough of a buffer to spend some time on a vacation.

They were only supposed to visit the Tournament for a few days. After that, they were going to tour the Empires on the way home, see sights they never thought they could. A once-in-a-lifetime trip for them and their children. Something they could tell their grandkids about someday.

Now, a noble had broken several things inside him. Jonathan could feel them scraping and grinding with every blow. He couldn’t breathe right, and his entire chest and stomach had stopped hurting. Now, it just felt numb. He wasn’t sure how he was conscious. All he could think about was how he couldn’t go back to work, couldn’t feed his family. All because he didn’t move out of line fast enough.

“Die!”

“Alright, I think that’s enough.” The fist coming down stopped dead. Johnathan, prone on the ground, unwrapped his arms from around his head and looked up at the new voice above him. A man of similar age to the noble with dark skin and a thick build had wrapped his giant hand around the noble’s forearm, stopping the blow that likely would have killed him.

That hand, the man’s left hand, was strange. Two of the fingers were covered in steely grey scales with brilliant molten orange glowing in between. Clearly, this man was a shrouded. A shrouded had saved him from another shrouded. Jonathan realized he must be dead to be seeing a sight like this.

“Well damn. He did a number on you. Ruptured several organs, broke half your ribs. You’re already dead, and you just don’t know it. Poor guy.” In a daze, Jonathan looked behind him to find another man, taller and skinnier than the first, crouched over him with an amused expression on his face. “Give me a moment, and I’ll have you in tip-top shape. Trust me; I’m a doctor.”

The man smiled widely as, at the same time, an awning from the building behind them suddenly collapsed, falling toward his head from behind. Before Johnathan could choke out a warning through the wetness in his lungs, the heavy wood awning was surrounded in thick, ethereal black chains that pulled it back into place before disappearing.

“Don’t worry about that. Happens all the time.” The man winked as his hand was surrounded by a haze of golden, green, and brown energy that somehow reminded Johnathan of sunflowers and warm summers. Immediately, his lungs felt clear, the grinding inside him stopped, and he could feel his stomach again.

The man frowned. Well, Jonathan would say it was more of a pout. “Dang. Cae, you know I love you, but Healing is such a cheat. I barely have to try to fix fatal damage. Honestly, you took all the fun out of being a doctor.”

“Cry me a river,” The dark-skinned man rolled his eyes. “I’m busy.”

Indeed he was. The noble had wrenched his arm from the man’s grip and squared off with him. He seemed stunned, unwilling to believe someone had interrupted him. At least, that’s how Johnathan read the sour look on the noble’s face.

He couldn’t imagine a way that this ended without a fight between the two. Five feet from his face. Johnathan suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to be anywhere else.

{}

Caeden stared at the man in front of him. Well, child, really. They might be physically the same age, but Caeden couldn’t judge the boy’s behavior as anything other than childish. A spoiled brat that threw a tantrum when he didn’t get his way. The look on his face, like he was sucking on a lemon, just added to the impression.

“Who do you think you are, stopping me from disciplining my own subjects?” The man finally spat after staring at Caeden for several long moments. “Do you even know who I am?”

“Nope,” Caeden crossed his arms nonchalantly. He had gotten the measure of this kid and the three bodyguards he could feel in the crowd who had focused their attention on him. Obviously, this guy was someone decently important, but Caeden couldn’t find it in him to care like he might have a day ago, Starry Sea time. And it all came down to one fact. “As for who I think I am, that’s pretty simple. I’m stronger than you.”

It really was that simple. Caeden felt confident he could take the kid and his bodyguards in a fight. By himself. Caeden didn’t like shrouded society in general, but this time it worked to his advantage. Might makes right. If Caeden could beat the snot out of them, no one was going to question it. The only time that went out the window was if he started dropping bodies. Then, someone might come looking for revenge. Someone Caeden couldn’t handle.

“Ha! You think you can take me? You don’t look any older than me, you buffoon. Are your senses that dull?” The boy taunted.

Caeden had to hold back from laughing himself at the irony of that statement, as, as far as he could tell, the kid hadn’t even tried to check Caeden’s power. The bodyguards absolutely had since Caeden could feel their anxiety rolling off them. Their defenses were nothing compared to Lily’s, and Caeden had spent a thousand years learning how to work through her concealment sense.

“Well? Explain yourself before I end your life.” The boy continued after Caeden didn’t respond. “Or are you petrified by fear upon realizing your mistake?”

Caeden had to raise an eyebrow at that. Nothing about his body language or actions should give even a hint of fear. Just how blind was this kid? He couldn’t read a situation to save his life. Because Caeden was eminently capable of ending his life. If he were an asshole of a similar caliber to this idiot, the kid would be dead.

“I’m wondering what exactly you think you’re doing right now.” Caeden decided to flex his aura a bit just to clue him in.

Instantly, the kid’s face went white as Caeden’s aura gently gripped his. At the same time, the bodyguards Caeden had sensed made themselves known. All three burst from the crowd, jumping between Caeden and their charge.

“Sir, we’d appreciate you letting him go.” One spoke up. All of them had shaved heads and wore plain clothing.

“What are you all doing here?!” The kid seemed stunned at their appearance. “Nevermind that, kill him! He threatened my life!”

Caeden, not letting go of the so-far-unnamed idiot’s aura, once again raised his eyebrow while simply looking at the bodyguard. He was going to let them make the next move, see what they did. The bodyguards weren’t as bad as the kid, seeing as they were just doing their jobs. Sometimes you had a bad boss; Caeden could understand that. But he wasn’t about to give them a free pass if they attacked him on the kid’s orders.

“Sir, if you’ll give me a moment to confer with my charge.” The front man bowed his head deferentially.

“I’ve got time.” Caeden waved his hand. This whole situation was weirdly surreal for him. On the one hand, he wasn’t used to shrouded this powerful being so respectful to him. On the other, he was used to that from both the Forged and his Bladeborne. So it was something familiar, just in a completely new context. Though the underlying note of fear was completely new to him.

With his gesture, the bodyguard sept over to his charge, dipping so that his mouth was right next to the boy’s ear. Caeden could feel him try to put up a concealment sense screen to hide his words, but Caeden popped it like a soap bubble.

“My prince, he is far more powerful than we can easily handle. On his own, we might be able to kill him, depending on his abilities. But the one over there has healing powers on a level I’ve never seen. This is an uncertain situation; we should withdraw.” He warned.

Caeden approved of the sentiment. He didn’t want to kill any of them, and if this evolved into a full fight, he might have to to win. Even the asshole kid didn’t necessarily deserve death. Caeden didn’t know him, and he might have lived a life similar to Ander’s. Lily’s brother was a monster, but he had been raised to be one. If Caeden could avoid his death, he would. He’d rather stick people like them in the Blade Forge, try and teach them to be better in an environment where they weren’t the end-all-be-all.

“Are you serious? My father’s best men, and you can’t even kill one kid my age? He’s obviously faking whatever that was.” The boy continued to throw a fit. “There’s no way someone my age is so much stronger than me. He must be able to manipulate perception in some way. It’s an illusion.”

Caeden sighed. It sounded like the kid was trying to convince himself that what he said was true, despite how ridiculous it was. He had to admit that the hypothesis was possible, but it wasn’t something worth the risk. If Caeden were a faker, like the idiot said, they’d kill him. But if he was wrong, they’d all die over an unshrouded and a small slight. It was truly insane.

“Please, my prince. There is nothing to be gained here. We can simply go.” The bodyguard tried again. He seemed to have realized what was going on. Caeden was mildly surprised. The idiot’s thought process, while stupid, was more in line with most up echelon shrouded.

“No! If you won’t take his head, I will!” The apparent prince broke past his guards, likely because they weren’t expecting the sudden rush. He raised his hand at Caeden, silvery shroud gathering around it. Caeden was actually impressed by the speed and density of the manifestation. He was well above average for the age group. Either talented or dedicated to training.

Too bad he was far outside his league.

A shockwave of displaced air shot between him and Caeden. Rather than block it or really do anything, Caeden used physical enhancement and simply ignored it. The attack, while fast and strong, wasn’t potent enough to even need formshift to resist.

The shockwave was stopped before it could reach the crowd by a wall of purple and black chains suddenly surrounding the group. Erik wasn’t slacking at all. At the same time, Caeden decided he was done with this. He flicked his wrist, pulling a small needle from the Forge and launching it at high speed toward the boy.

One of the hundreds of millions of various blade designs Caeden had made during his long time spent refining his forging techniques, the needle was actually an incredibly small push dagger designed for assassination. However, this one was infused with a potent sleep effect.

It caught the young prince in the thigh, and he was out like a light. Another flick of his wrist and Caeden dismissed the needle-dagger. It was now safely back in the Forge until he needed it again. The bodyguards stared at their charge, stunned. Likely, none of them could quite believe the fight had ended so quickly and unceremoniously.

“I think we’re done here,” Caeden spoke up, causing three heads to whip around and stare at him. “He’s unconscious, not dead. Take him and go. Maybe he’ll learn a lesson about recklessly attacking other people for no reason.”

Caeden had hardly finished speaking when the Binding Barrier dropped, and the bodyguards were gone in the next instant, their leader carrying their charge over his shoulder.

“Well, they definitely know how to make a fast exit.” Erik laughed, staring after the rapidly disappearing group. He was also eating some kind of donut-crepe hybrid. “Damn, these are good! I’d want to cut in line for one too.”

Caeden stared at him.

“What? I wouldn’t beat anyone up! I’d just, you know. Cut.” Erik shrugged unapologetically, taking another bite as some of the bright red filling stuck to his face.

Caeden didn’t even dignify that with a response as the girls joined them.

“All good?” Lily once again wrapped her arm around Caeden’s.

“Yup.”

“What is it?” She asked, noticing the content look on Caeden’s face.

“Oh, I’m just happy we did something nice for once without it blowing up in our faces or spiraling out of control.”

“That doesn’t always happen.” Lily denied.

“Oh yeah? What about the Forged? That was supposed to be, like, a couple people. Now it's over half the Academy students. Then there was the Mining Station thing. We went to kill some Crystal Moles and found a secret Revolution base! Or the dragon continent! I helped almost a dozen nests before we reached the CMS facility. We fought an assassin robot! Everything always gets out of hand.” Caeden listed off.

“...Huh.”

“Yeah, It’s a lot when you think about it.” He nodded. “But this time, we just helped someone. No unintended consequences.”

{}

King Harmon stared at the unconscious body of his son and the kneeling form of his three guards. He spoke, every syllable trembling with rage. “Tell. Me. What. Happened.”